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    On The Wings Of A Sparrow
    On The Wings Of A Sparrow
    On The Wings Of A Sparrow
    Ebook92 pages1 hour

    On The Wings Of A Sparrow

    By Gregg Alven

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    About this ebook

    On The Wings Of A Sparrow, while being fiction, is based on the accomplishment of a real person. The year is 1912, the airplane and flight are being introduced to people all over the world. Air shows, speed races and daring distances covered by flight are ways to introduce this new wonder. Harriet Quimby, first licensed woman pilot in the United States, chooses to fly alone across the English Channel. In need of a plane she entrusts her training and preparation to Connell Wright, who has just lost one of his partners in an air accident. Adversaries in the beginning the two eventually warm to each other, fall in love and make plans to return to Washington state, Wright's home state, where they will marry and live out their lives together. Their dream is shattered by accident and death, events all too common in the early days of flying.

    On The Wings Of A Sparrow is a story of Harriet Quimby's determination, preparation and accomplishment in the time when flight was in its infancy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGregg Alven
    Release dateAug 29, 2016
    ISBN9781370024698
    On The Wings Of A Sparrow

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      Book preview

      On The Wings Of A Sparrow - Gregg Alven

      ON THE WINGS OF A SPARROW

      A 1912 ADVENTURE

      BY

      GREGG ALVEN

      Copyright 2016

      Smashwords Edition

      DESCRIPTION

      A WOMAN FLIES ALONE ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL FOR THE FIRST TIME

      INTRODUCTION

      The year was 1912. Louis Bleriot and Gustav Hamel were two of the most successful pilots to cross the English Channel. Each had flown alone across twenty-two and a half miles of water. Many had tried and failed. Some had lost their lives. It’s always like that in pioneering. But pioneers understand and accept the conditions of the challenge and go on anyway.

      A woman companion of Gustav Hamel’s flew with him on one of his 21 crossings: this was the Trehawke-Davies crossing and the date was April 2, 1912. Eleanor Trehawke-Davies was a well known aviator’s companion. But the challenge for a woman pilot to fly successfully alone across that body of water remained unaccomplished.

      Desperate to gain recognition as that woman pilot, Harriet Quimby took on the challenge and did succeed on April 16, 1912. Although she missed her planned destination, Calais, by about 25 miles, the crossing was historic. At last, a single woman pilot flying alone, had crossed that body of water and touched down on the European continent.

      It’s hard to think, today, that these crossings were so monumental. But, to try and cross the English Channel in 1912, would be like trying to go to the moon was last century. Once it was done, however, the mind set of people would change from impossible to we did it to it can be done.

      Lindbergh’s crossing of the Atlantic in 1927, had the same kind of effect. What made Quimby, Lindberg and other pioneers different, I think, they knew it could be done and they were willing to try it. It was adventurous and dangerous and this made it more enticing. And if you succeeded you could be rich and famous!

      Unfortunately, Quimby’s achievement was overshadowed by the sinking of the Titanic and so the realization of her success has been slow over the years. And, tragically, her death in a flight accident on July 1, of the same year of her Channel success has, I think, contributed to this lack of greater awareness.

      We can thank people like Giacenta Bradley Koontz, Peter Tyson, Jone Johnson Lewis, Ed Y. Hall & Dr. Anita Price Davis, to mention a few, for keeping Harriet Quimby in the memory of today’s world. She was a terrific woman and a great pilot.

      This story is both truth and fiction. The true part is Harriet Quimby and her crossing the Channel successfully. The fiction is the retinue of characters and events I have created to be with her and assist her in her endeavor. Why did I write this story you ask? I wondered what it might have been like to be with her and around her as the greatest time of her life unfolded. Harriet was a dynamic woman, strong and challenging, and beautiful to look at. I enjoyed being with her as I wrote this story. I hope you will, too.

      June 10, 2016

      Gregg Alven

      TO BEGIN

      My name is Harriet Quimby. Let me spell it for you – Q U I M B Y. You may have heard of me, but, I’m more inclined to think that you haven’t. I was a woman flyer – the first woman in this country, America, to get a pilot’s license. That was in 1911. And I was the first woman to fly alone across the English Channel. That was in 1912. I would like to tell you this story. It was certainly the most exciting and challenging time of my life. And it has a lot of cherished memories, too.

      Let’s see ….. Oh yes, it would begin there……

      Harriet! Get out of that tree! You’ll fall and break your neck! You’re going to ruin your clothes! Ursula Quimby yells from the back screen door of the old weathered farm house in Arcadia, Michigan. She is a farm woman of the 1870s, in long dress and apron. Both are somewhat worn and faded themselves. But there is a certain dignity about her that radiates and commands a respect when people are around her. It’s an energy that draws people to her and somehow changes them for the better in her presence. Harriet has the same qualities. Ursula knew this when Harriet was born. She told her husband, William, that this child is special! He laughed: You say that about all our kids.

      The eleven year old girl in a white long dress and a bow in her hair, jumps down out of a hardwood Maple. The leaves are turning gold and red and are piling around the trunk.

      I won’t fall, MaMa. Really. I’m getting pretty good at climbing trees! It’s fun! I won’t hurt myself. Really! See, I’m alright! The smiling girl opens her arms and does a quick pirouette.

      Harriet, you are a girl. Girls don’t climb trees! I want you to be a lady with some gentility and respect!

      What’s gentility, MaMa?

      Something you won’t get by climbing trees!

      It sounds like climbing trees is more fun.

      Harriet!

      Yes, MaMa. I’ll be a girl --- with---that word you said.

      Gentility!

      Harriet?! Harriet?!

      Harriet Quimby blinks quickly a couple of times and looks at the smiling face of her best friend Matilde Moisant.

      Matilde chuckles: Where did you go? I’ve been chatting on and realized I was talking to myself.

      Sorry, Mati. I was just thinking about my mother. I don’t know how she is going to take all of this.

      I think your mother will love it. She is very proud of you and what you’ve done already. Besides, she was able to accept your race car adventure.

      Flying, Mati! Flying. I don’t know. But I love it!

      We better get ready, Harriet. Graduation is starting.

      The two women are sitting in chairs. Next to them are three men in chairs as well. These five are the graduates of the Moisant Aviation School. The five are on a small platform that is in front of an open aeroplane hangar. A Bleriot aeroplane sits in the opening of the hangar. Red, white and blue bunting and streamers decorate the platform and front of the hangar. A large white sign with black lettering over the hangar opening reads: MOISANT AVIATION SCHOOL.

      Harriet and Matilde are wearing bright long dresses with crinoline petticoats, parasols and hats to

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